India announces gang-rape inquiry

India's government has ordered a special inquiry into the gang-rape of a student which sparked mass protests, as police announced the arrest of 10 men over another multiple sex assault.

While a wave of angry protests over the December 16 assault on the student in New Delhi subsided, news of a Christmas Eve gang-rape in rural Tamil Nadu again shone the spotlight on the frightening levels of violence against women.

The victim of the attack in Delhi is still fighting for her life while a policeman who was attacked during subsequent protests died of his injuries on Tuesday.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who is also the government's top spokesman, said that a retired judge, Usha Mehra, had agreed to head a commission of inquiry.

The inquiry would "identify the lapses if any on the part of the police, or another authority or person that contributed to the occurrence, and fix responsibility for the lapses or negligence", he said after a cabinet meeting.

The victim of the Delhi gang-rape remains in a critical condition in hospital after suffering terrible injuries during her assault on a bus, which began when she and a male companion were picked up after a night out at the cinema.

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Police and prosecutors say six men, who were drunk and joy-riding in an off-duty bus with tinted windows, took turns at raping the student before throwing her off the vehicle.

During her assault, the victim suffered serious intestinal injuries from being beaten with an iron rod.

All six alleged attackers have now been arrested and remanded in custody.

Official figures show that 228,650 of the total 256,329 violent crimes recorded last year were against women, with the number of rapes in the capital rising 17 per cent to 661 this year.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets since December 16 to demonstrate both against the levels of violence and also the notoriously slow criminal justice system.

Stung by criticism, the government has said it will consider introducing the death penalty for the worst attacks and promised to speed up the trial system.

In the attack in Tamil Nadu, 10 men overpowered the male companion of a 20-year-old woman in the Cuddalore district on Christmas Eve and then took turns to rape her for two hours.

"The victim had gone to the bank of a river with her boyfriend on Monday evening when the couple was attacked," district police chief A. Radhika told AFP by telephone from Cuddalore.

"We arrested the 10 suspects on Tuesday and charged them with rape and also booked them under (tribal protection) laws because she was a tribal," Radhika said.

The officer said the woman was in stable condition in hospital under "basic medical treatment".